Saturday

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Saturday, 15 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 8 : 1-10

At that time, soon afterwards Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So He called His disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”

His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.” Then He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, He broke them, and handed them to His disciples to distribute. And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish, so Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well.

The people ate and were satisfied. The broken pieces were collected, seven wicker baskets full of leftovers. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number. Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

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Saturday, 15 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 89 : 2, 3-4, 5-6, 12-13

Before the mountains were formed, before You made the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity – You are God.

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will you be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

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Saturday, 15 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Genesis 3 : 9-24

YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”

The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.” To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life.”

“It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field. With sweat on your face you will eat your bread, until you return to clay, since it was from clay that you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. YHVH God made garments of skin for the man and his wife, and with these He clothed them. Then YHVH God said, “Man has now become like one of Us making himself judge of good and evil. Let him not stretch out his hand to take and eat from the Tree of Life as well, and live forever.”

So God cast him from the garden of Eden to till the soil from which he had been made. And after having driven the man out, God posted Cherubim and a flaming sword that kept turning at the east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

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Saturday, 8 February 2025 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Holy Virgins or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the love of God which has been revealed to us so generously and wonderfully through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who has embraced our humanity and existence in the flesh, becoming our Shepherd and Guide, as our Good Shepherd, the One to gather each and every one of us, the lost sheep of the Lord’s flock. Each one of us are reminded of how precious all of us are to the Lord, our loving God and Father, and how much He wants us all to be reconciled to Him, which He gave us the best help and means through the giving of His own Son to be our Saviour. This is why as we reflect upon these words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we should do our best to follow the leads of our loving Good Shepherd.

In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of this Epistle to the Hebrews spoke about the love and the great, wonderful things which God had done for their sake through the sacrifice and offerings of Christ, the Good Shepherd, and our High Priest, for our salvation. The author had been spending a lot of time throughout the Epistle to convince and strengthen the faith of the believers from among the Jewish community by going through with them the true nature and the identity of Jesus Christ, the One Who had been prophesied by the prophets, the Son of God Who had been incarnate in the flesh, coming into our midst to give unto us the sure hope of God’s salvation, which He had done by laying down His own life, to suffer and die for us all, the sheep of the Lord’s flock.

Like in the parable of the Good Shepherd, the Lord Himself told us all that He will always be going forth to seek us, the lost sheep of God, who have been scattered in this world because of our disobedience and sins. He does not want us all to be lost forever to Him, and He opened the path for us to seek Him, to embrace His love and mercy, to call on us all to return back once again to God’s Holy Presence, leaving behind our sinful existence and actions, embracing instead the holiness and virtues of the Lord in all things. We have been scattered and lost from Him because we have allowed our sins to tempt and pull us away from the Lord, and the Lord did everything that He could to reach out to us and to bring us all back to His loving embrace, to forgive us our many sins.

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard the story of how the Lord and His disciples ministered to the people of God, and how the Lord had pity on all those who had come to seek Him and to listen to His words. He saw them all as sheep which were without a shepherd, scattered and lost, and thus, as mentioned, Him being our Good Shepherd, He gathered all of them and showed them all His most wonderful and patient love, ministering to them and caring for them, teaching them even though He Himself, in His humanity, must have felt so tired and exhausted after all the endless works that He had performed with His disciples. And yet, He kept pushing on and showed His continued love to us, because He truly loves each and every one of us, without exception.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Jerome Emiliani, also known as Gerolamo Emiliani, an Italian humanitarian and holy man of God, known as the founder of the Somaschi Fathers, gathering together like-minded individuals who shared in his desire to reach out to the less fortunate in the community of the people of God, caring for the need of the poor, the sick and all those who were less privileged and less fortunate. He was born in Venice in the early sixteenth century, and he ran away in his teenage years to join the military. After having been in the military for a while, becoming even the governor of a fortress in the region of northern Italy, he was taken prisoner, during which time, he had a change of heart, realising the guidance of God through Mary, His blessed Mother, to whom he committed himself and gave thanks for his escape and liberation from the imprisonment.

Henceafter, St. Jerome no longer focused on himself or on any sorts of worldly ambitions and desires. Instead, he began caring for the needs of those around him, showing care and concern for those who are suffering, from famine and from diseases, and all those who have been abandoned by the community, the orphans and others who have not experienced the love of others, and who have been neglected by their fellow men and women. He ministered to their needs and as mentioned, inspired many others to follow his examples, establishing charitable institutions and other organisations for the benefit of those poor and the needy who are lacking in basic needs and many others like prostitutes and those who have been ostracised and condemned by the people in their own community. He initiated the community of the Congregation of Regular Clerics at Somasca, which eventually became the Somaschi Fathers.

The other saint we also celebrate today is St. Josephine Bakhita, who was a slave woman from the region of the present day Sudan in northern part of Africa. St. Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped from her family in her early youth and was sold as a slave, passing from masters to masters, enduring all sorts of physical and other abuses, before eventually ending up in the service of the Italian Vice-Consul in the region. During that time, conflicts were happening in the area, and the Italian Vice-Consul decided to relocate back to Italy together with his family. St. Josephine Bakhita was brought to Italy in this manner, leaving behind the land of her past slavery. She was handed over to the Vice-Consul’s friend, another Italian, who wanted to bring her back to Sudan as he was considering relocating there completely. St. Josephine Bakhita resisted and firmly refused to return to that land.

At that time, she was already beginning her period of catechumenate, having been left in the care of the Canossian sisters, with whom she would later on spend the rest of her life serving as a member. Eventually, the matter was settled by the Italian courts, with the support of the Church for St. Josephine Bakhita, which ruled that she had never legally been a slave due to the rules implemented before her birth. Thus, St. Josephine Bakhita was finally a freewoman, and she chose to stay on with the Canossian Sisters for the remaining more than four decades of her life, ministering to the Canossian sisters and the community, living a holy and devout life, which became great inspiration for many others around her, both in the Canossian community and beyond. Many people came to pay last respects to her when she finally passed away in 1947 after years of being sick.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be reminded always of God’s love for us, the love that our loving Shepherd, Father and Creator has for all of us. And let us all therefore respond to Him with the same love, devotion and commitment, one that has also been shown by our many holy predecessors, particularly from the examples of St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita that we had just discussed. Let us all be inspired by them and do our best in our own respective areas and communities, to be truly dedicated to God and His cause, and to show His love to our fellow brothers and sisters around us, so that hopefully, many more people may come to believe in God through us and our good examples. May God be with us all in our every missions, good works and endeavours, and may St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita continue to intercede for us all sinners. Amen.

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Saturday, 8 February 2025 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Holy Virgins or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 6 : 30-34

At that time, the Apostles returned and reported to Jesus all they had done and taught. Then He said to them, “Go off by yourselves to a remote place and have some rest.” For there were so many people coming and going that the Apostles had no time even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a secluded area by themselves.

But people saw them leaving and many could guess where they were going. So, from all the towns, they hurried there on foot, arriving ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began a long teaching session with them.

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Saturday, 8 February 2025 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Holy Virgins or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

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Saturday, 8 February 2025 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Holy Virgins or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Hebrews 13 : 15-17, 20-21

Let us, then, continually offer through Jesus a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips celebrating His Name. Do not neglect good works and common life, for these are sacrifices pleasing to God. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are concerned for your souls and are accountable for them. Let this be a joy for them rather than a burden, which would be of no advantage for you.

May God give you peace, He Who brought back from among the dead Jesus our Lord, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, Whose Blood seals the eternal covenant. He will train you in every good work, that you may do His will, for it is He Who works in us what pleases Him, through Jesus Christ, to Whom all glory be forever and ever. Amen!

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all listened from the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all reminded of the need for us to put our complete trust and faith in the Lord, and we should have genuine and true faith in Him, a faith that is not easily shaken by the many temptations, troubles, trials and challenges that we may have to face in our lives today. We must always keep in mind that the Lord is always faithful to the Covenant which He has made with each and every one of us, and He is always by our side, guiding and strengthening us in our journey throughout life, in everything that we say and do, in our every moments in life. We must not be easily frightened or threatened by the obstacles that we experience because if we remain true to the Lord, we will share in His triumph and victory.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle spoke to the Jewish community and believers about their well-known forefather, Abraham, the father of all the Israelites and many other nations, the one whom God had called from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia to follow Him and to go to the land that He would grant to him and his descendants. God called this rich but old man, Abram, from the land of his forefathers, together with his wife, then named Sarai, who by then had also been very old and beyond childbearing age, after having failed to conceive and bear a child even after many years with her husband. God called this family to follow Him and made them to be the ones with whom He established His Covenant. And everything happened as the Lord has promised it, all because Abram, who changed his name to be Abraham after the Covenant, and Sarah, his wife, believed in the Lord and His Covenant.

We heard the parts of the story of Abraham, who followed the Lord faithfully and committed himself to Him even if he himself was unable to witness everything that God had told him and promised him. He was told that he would become the father of many nations, through the son that the Lord had promised him, the son that his wife Sarah would bear to him, namely Isaac, who was mentioned in that reading passage today. When God called on Abraham to offer his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice at Mount Moriah, Abraham committed himself to the Lord without hesitation, trusting in God wholeheartedly and surrendered his own beloved son Isaac to be offered to God. God was just testing Abraham to see if he was truly faithful to the Covenant that God has established with him, and for this great and genuine faith, God blessed Abraham all the more.

In fact, this event of the offering of Isaac, the beloved son of Abraham was a prefigurement of what the Lord Himself would do for us mankind, as He sent us all His own only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God to be incarnate and to be born as a Man like us, taking up our own human nature and existence, becoming the means through Whom God would save all of us, His beloved people, by the selfless and most perfect and worthy sacrifice which He offered on the Cross, breaking His own Most Precious Body and pouring out His own Most Precious Blood to bring forth the salvation which He has assured us all from the very beginning. And by this singular action, God has brought unto us what He has promised, and established with us a New and Eternal Covenant.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which we heard of the miraculous occasion in which the Lord Jesus calmed down the wind and waves in a storm as He was travelling together with His disciples in a boat. The disciples were all spooked and horrified when they encountered a great storm with large waves and strong wind as they were travelling in the lake, likely the Lake of Galilee where the Lord often ministered at, and in the meantime, Jesus Himself was sleeping in the boat. The disciples begged Him to do something, and He rebuked them for their little faith, and then proceeded on to calm the storm which immediately came to an end, showing the great power of God over all things, even over the forces of nature.

In that story from the Gospel we can see clearly the manifestation and representation of the Church of God and all of us the faithful people of God, represented by the Lord’s disciples, and the Lord Himself Who is at the helm of the Church journeying together through the turbulent and dangerous storms, waves and the many uncertainties surrounding us all in this life we have in this world. The waves and the storm represent all the challenges, hardships and difficulties which we all may have to endure amidst our journey in life. The boat represents the Church of God, which is often represented as an Ark, also alluding to the historical Noah’s Ark. As long as we remain united in the Church and anchored firmly in our faith in the Lord, we will be truly triumphant in the end with the Lord.

But if we allow our fears, doubts and uncertainties, and also all the temptations and evils around us to distract us from the Lord, and lead us down the path of ruin and destruction, then like those who may choose to jump from the boat to save themselves, they are likely going to be swallowed by the waves and drown. This is why no matter what sufferings and hardships that we may have to encounter in this life, we have to remember that we are not suffering from them alone, and first of all, the Lord Himself is always by our side, providing for us and guiding us throughout, and we are also surrounded by our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow Christians all around us, as we are all part of this one Church of God, one Body of Christ and one flock of God’s faithful, who will always be remembered and loved by God, our loving and Good Shepherd.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be reminded of the great faith of Abraham and our other forefathers, the saints, the holy men and women who had dedicated themselves to God, and who have lived their lives worthily as God’s holy and beloved people, as inspirations and great role models to others, even when they were facing great trials, challenges, and sufferings, in which many of them suffered martyrdom and destruction, but all those things they endured faithfully and willingly for the Lord. Let us also be reminded as mentioned earlier, of the great love that God has shown us all, in establishing and affirming His Covenant with us through His only Begotten Son, Who has willingly taken up and embraced all of our sins, and Who suffered and died for us so that we all may live and share in the everlasting life that He has assured us all of.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to be with us in all things, and may He continue to empower each and every one of us so that we may continue to grow ever stronger in faith, and that we may always uphold a strong faith truly anchored in Him. Let us all be good inspirations and role models ourselves in how we live our lives so that we may help lead many others to the Lord as well. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 4 : 35-41

At that time, on that same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him. Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”

But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

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Saturday, 1 February 2025 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Luke 1 : 69–70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.